Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. inspectors said they are trying
to determine whether Central Valley Meat Co., a slaughterhouse
in California that supplies beef to the nation’s school lunch
program, used lame “downer” cattle against federal rules.

The Agriculture Department said it’s investigating whether
cattle that were too sick to stand or walk were slaughtered, a
practice that is banned because of the risks for mad cow
disease. The facility in Hanford, California, was shut down Aug.
19 after regulators received video of slaughter practices and
confirmed “inhumane handling violations,” the agency said late
yesterday. No meat has been recalled.

The animal-welfare group Compassion Over Killing said it
shot the video footage. The group’s methods are similar to how
the Humane Society of the U.S. obtained undercover video that
led to the 2008 recall of 143 million pounds of meat from
Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., also a supplier to the U.S. school
lunch program. That recall occurred partly because of concern
that downed cattle had been slaughtered.

“USDA considers inhumane treatment of animals at slaughter
facilities to be unacceptable and is conducting a thorough
investigation into these allegations,” Justin DeJong, a
spokesman for the agency, said in an e-mail. The agency
“suspended operations at the facility and is prepared to take
further action as warranted.”

Brian Coelho, president of Central Valley Meat, said he
couldn’t comment on the video because it hadn’t been shared with
the company.

“We are extremely disturbed to be informed by the USDA
that inspection was suspended and our plant could not operate
based upon a videotape that was provided to the department by a
third party group that alleged inhumane treatment of animals on
our property,” Coelho said yesterday in a statement.

USDA Investigation

A person answering the telephone today at Central Valley
Meat declined to give their name or provide any information
about the company. Two telephone calls to Compassion Over
Killing weren’t returned. The Washington-based group said on its
website that it has worked since 1995 to end animal abuse.

The Central Valley plant was shut down because the USDA
immediately suspended the assignment of inspectors to the
establishment and is withholding marks of inspection necessary
for sale. All handling activities are done under continuous
inspection by USDA personnel, according to the statement.

The USDA has directed its Office of the Inspector General
to investigate and verify the allegations in the video. A team,
including veterinarians who specialize in humane handling, have
been sent to Central Valley Meat to evaluate the video and
determine if egregious inhumane handling of livestock occurred.

There have been four cases in the U.S. of cattle with mad
cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, with the most
recent discovery confirmed by the USDA on April 24 in a dairy
cow. The first was discovered in December 2003, and U.S. beef
exports tumbled 82 percent to 460.3 million pounds during the
next 12 months as dozens of countries banned the product,
government data show. Most trade has resumed.